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Utah mom buys all 'offensive' t-shirts at PacSun to keep teens from seeing them

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Judy Cox poses next to the stack of T-shirts with what she believes are pornographic designs that she bought to keep them being displayed at a PacSun store Orem, Utah.
(The Associated Press | The Daily Herald, Mark Johnston)

A Utah mother was so outraged by T-shirt display in the window of a PacSun store in Orem, she bought the entire stock of the offending garments to get them out of sight.

Judy Cox was shopping at University Mall with her 19-year-old son when she spotted the display of "visuals by Van Styles" T-shirts, KUTV.com reported. The shirts, part of Van Styles' "Visual Heartbreakers" line, bore the images of lingerie models that Cox thought were too racy, by state law, to display in the store's window.

"The bottom of one woman is completely exposed, uncovered and it's a very provocative pose that she's in," Cox told 4Utah.com. "Clearly it was offensive and I was most concerned about the youth and the children that would be viewing this."

She complained to the store manager, who told her that the PacSun corporate office would have to be consulted about taking them down, something that could take days. Cox offered to buy the window display, but the manager said those shirts would be replaced with others in stock.

So Cox bought all of the store's Visual Heartbreaker shirts, 19 in all. The bill came to $567.

If the store gets a new shipment, Cox told KUTV.com, she'll buy those shirts, too.

She'd like to destroy the ones she bought already, she told heraldextra.com. But the store has a 60-day return policy and she wants to let PacSun officials figure out what to do with the shirts when she brings them back for a refund on Day 59, Cox said.

University Mall's management should have enforced its lease agreements against the display of vulgarity, nudity and other violations of city codes and community standards, Cox said.

"If the buttocks shows without an opaque covering it's illegal. Two of these clearly cross the line." Cox told KUTV.com. While Victoria's Secret also displays women in lingerie, she said, "it's a lingerie store. You're not going in and purchasing a T-shirt with a pornographic image on the shirt. People are buying lingerie."

Rob Kallas, University Mall's manager, said those lease terms are hard to police because of freedom of speech concerns, the heraldextra.com said. The mall usually has customers like Cox talk to the store manager first, then alert mall management, then talk to the Orem city attorney, who determines if there's a violation of city code involved.

"We are watching it closely," Kallas said.

Cox, meanwhile, has contacted two national organizations, Women for Decency and One Million Moms, for help in stopping the spread of indecent material.

PacSun corporate officials did not respond to calls for comment from Orem area media.

What do you think of Cox's concern and solution? Please leave a comment below.